The Fallen
by SkoBuffs
Summary: Yang Xiao Long has been abandoned by her teammates and friends, an amputee stuck in depression while her world burns because of Cinder Fall. To fight back, Yang will have to look past her friends' actions and maybe try to find unlikely allies. Can she return to the fight that crippled her and find her revenge?
1. Asleep

RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth Productions.

Yang Xiao Long looked around her. The Amity Colosseum was filled to maximum capacity and surely millions more were watching all around Remnant. The Vytal Tournament was the most popular event during the Vytal Festival and easily the most watched broadcasted event in the world, and She had made it to the final stage. Yang wasn't surprised, she was absolutely confident in her abilities. As millions of people cheered her name and her victory she looked at her opponent, her beaten opponent. She smirked at him. After knocking someone down on their butt (literally) it was hard to see them as equals. She turned her back on the gray haired, lanky young man named Mercury Black. She heard a sudden rush and FELT the unexpected danger. Acting automatically she turned and blasted the leg about to strike her with her right hand. Except, it wasn't the gray haired man clutching his leg in front of her, it was her little sister. Ruby Rose looked up at Yang, pure innocence embodied in her tear filled eyes, her black skirt torn, her red hood in tatters, "Why would you do that, Yang? Why would you hurt me?" her voice quivered.

Yang looked down in horror at her sister's leg, "Ruby, I- I'm so sorry! What happened? Why are you here?!" Yang looked up and saw that the Amity Colosseum had disappeared, they were now in the great dining hall at Beacon Academy. It was destroyed. Yang's gaze drifted down back to her little sister only to find the person laying in front of her had changed once more. It was now her old partner and best friend, Blake Belladonna. Yang's eyes were riveted to the growing red splotch on her partner's side. "Yang. Please, go." Blake whispered, not having the strength to even move. Yang looked at her partner's face, finally tearing her eyes from the deviously placed gash in Blake's stomach; not in a place to prove fatal but still serious enough to render her immobile. Yang noticed Blake's eyes look at something behind her. She turned around and saw a man dressed in black, wielding a red katana, and covering his face with a grimm mask, but the mask did not hide his bull horns growing out of his bright red hair.

Yang felt the anger rise, she saw her vision blur red, sensed her power grow, she even saw her blonde hair shine. "Leave her alone!" She yelled, kneeling down in front of her injured partner. She saw the darker red liquid dripping down the katana's blade. Adam Taurus took a step toward the pair of teenage girls. Without thinking Yang launched herself towards him. Time slowed down and Yang saw everything. She saw the katana come across the arm she always attacked with. She felt her aura spike, strain, and finally give out. She watched the blade slice through her skin, muscle, and bone, right above her elbow. She slowly floated to the ground, feeling a different kind of fire, a burning that was not strength but weakness, the last amount of her aura cauterizing her severed limb. She watched the ground come up and meet her.

Yang launched herself into a sitting position throwing a punch with her right arm. Her ghost arm. As her heart rate slowly subsided back to a normal pace she looked at her stump. She tried, like she always did, to make a fist with her missing hand. She felt, or thought she felt, the imaginary fingers tense and curl together. It was funny, she had a greater sense of the ghost arm more than she had with her old arm; when it was actually attached to her body. Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, had told her it was all in her head, that eventually the random pains and spatial awareness of an arm that no longer existed would leave her as she got used to not having one anymore.

Like she could get used to it even if she wanted to. Believe it or not, it was surprisingly hard to have to wake up one day realizing that your weapon, limb, and team had all abandoned you. Yang was crippled in more ways than people knew.

Yang couldn't see the dark ball of fur jump onto her bed, but she felt the weight of the creature and could hear its panting. She reached out with her left arm and Zwei, the family corgi, nuzzled it affectionately before curling into a ball at the base of her feet. Yang had to admit that she enjoyed the dog's company, he didn't treat her any differently after losing her arm, neither did he require conversation.

Yang rolled out of bed and stood next to her bedroom window. It was dark outside, still night, a single cloud illuminated by the broken moon hung in the sky. The moon was now a crescent, barely light enough to allow Yang's vision to see the trees just on the edge of the clearing where her father's cabin was built. The island Patch was covered with trees, except for the small port which was the closest thing Patch had to a large city, but during winter the tree's red leaves would all be dead and buried under fresh snow.

Yang had always been a fighter, had always gotten up when she was knocked down, but the almighty power of the universe or destiny or maybe pure terrible luck had made her its personal test subject to see how much abuse an otherwise strong huntress-in-training could take. The entire world saw her attack an auraless Mercury Black. Although she could swear that he attacked her first, she had seen the video recordings of the fight herself, she wasn't even sure if she believed her own memories anymore. Then her drunk of an uncle, Qrow, had offered her a hint to her missing mother who had abandoned her before she was a year old. Two of her best friends had been killed the night that Vale was attacked, and finally her teammates, including her sister, had forsaken her. _Oh yeah_ , Yang thought with a toxic humor, _My arm was cut off too._ She closed her eyes and sighed. It had been a week since Ruby left to Haven. Her father was absolutely distraught, Yang thought it reminded him of Summer, Ruby's mother and Taiyang's second love, leaving on what would be her last mission.

Yang didn't know how she felt about Ruby's flight. She knew that the remaining survivors of team JNPR, Juane Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren, had gone with her. She had no doubt that they could handle any grimm that they met on the journey, but she knew that none of them were ready to fight the leader of the attack, the strange woman named Cinder who had orchestrated the sentient robot Penny Polendina's destruction and personally killed Pyrrha Nikos, team JNPR's former teammate. She was angry at first for Ruby leaving without saying goodbye, only placing a letter on her bed. A small part of Yang knew that she had pushed Ruby away though. _You didn't talk to her._ Yang told herself. _Penny and Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss, they were all her friends too._ Yang clenched her imaginary hand, felt the ethereal muscles tighten. _They left her alone too, and you abandoned her before she abandoned you!_ "Shut up." Yang voiced aloud.

Two months ago, the internal debate would have affected her somehow. She would have been angry with herself or she would have missed Ruby, maybe she would have cried, but the simple truth is that someone can only cry to a certain point before becoming numb inside. Yang's subconscious had drilled self pity into her mind when Yang first came to and realized all that had happened. After that wasn't enough to elicit an emotional response Yang's mind had started to tell itself that she was a failure. That everything she did had a negative impact on those around her. The human mind, however, has a limit before suffering immunity to self inflicted abuse. Yang felt nothing at her sister's departure, she didn't care that her father was staying home to look after her, she didn't care that her entire world was shattered in the span of three days. It was like her uncle had said, sometimes bad things just happen. _So deal with it,_ the internal voice said again. "I will," Yang told herself.

Yang turned back to her bed. The truth was she could understand Ruby's motive to go off to Haven. Ruby had always been a selfless fighter, desperately wanting to help people. And Weiss; Weiss' leaving also made sense. Her father had seen Atlesian Knights murder innocent citizens of Vale and turn on their own commanders thanks to the evil woman, because of that woman's actions the CCT was down as well. Vale could not broadcast a message to any of the other kingdoms. In fact, nobody could contact anyone else. Therefore Weiss' father coming to take her back to Atlas made sense. Yang couldn't understand Blake's reasons for fleeing though. They had been through so much together, and she just left Yang behind. She had promised to not run away from her team again, and she did.

Yang crawled back into her bed, allowing Zwei to move up closer to her arm so she could pet him. Blake Belladonna had always been the moody one of their team, and Yang the most easy going. _Maybe I just didn't know her as well as I thought I did. After all, she hid the fact that she was a faunus until the end of our first semester._ Yang thought it was funny that out of all the things that had happened to her in the past year, Blake leaving her and running away, was the thing that made her most bitter. She awkwardly pulled the blanket up to her chin with her left hand. Sometimes bad things just happen. _Thanks for the advice, Qrow._ Yang thought sarcastically.

;Hey guys, Just putting this up to see if it goes anywhere. If I get enough follows or likes after uploading maybe three more chapters I'll devote my time to this. Hiatus fever made me do it.


	2. Nothing

Yang awoke in her bed. A quick glance out her window informed her that Zwei had left her sometime during her sleep and she had managed to sleep through the rest of the night without having another nightmare. They were constantly plaguing her now. They had started as images of Penny and Pyrrha dying over and over again, although she hadn't witnessed the latter. Yang had lived those moments hundreds of times over. Then Blake bleeding in front of her had added themselves to her terrors, after Blake it was the shame of the Vytal Festival, then Adam found his way into her mind, and finally, after Ruby had left on her mission, she decided to become a part of Yang's subconscious pain.

Yang continued sitting in bed staring out of her window, trying to sort through the numbness she felt towards her visions. She had simply seen it too many times to know she could do anything about all of them. Pyrrha was dead, there wasn't even a body to bury, Penny was quartered, all the teams from the other academy's had gone home, and her own team was fractured, and nothing Yang could do would make a difference in that. Yang looked down at her arm and almost laughed. _Like I could even do anything._ She flexed her missing hand and felt a sting where her wrist should have been. She didn't mind, she liked the pain. It almost made her feel like she had a full arm again.

Taiyang came into her room with a platter of breakfast containing pancakes, eggs, orange juice, cereal, and assorted fruit. Yang felt sorry for him, he was trying so hard to make her feel better when there was really nothing he could say or do, unless he knew something about growing back limbs.

Yang was still looking out the window but she knew exactly what her father was doing. He would place the tray of food that she didn't want on her nightstand right next to the bed that had been her solace for the last three months. After he would kneel by her bed. It was too early in the morning for him to brush his hair so his blonde locks (Yang got it from him) would still be messy from sleeping. His blue eyes would get a little wide and he would say-

"Hey, little girl," Taiyang started the conversation.

"Hey, dad." Yang replied in a monotonous tone.

"Have any nightmares last night? I didn't hear you scream this time." Yang shook her head.

"Really? Thats good news! I mean, that's progress right?" Yang could imagine his half grin coming, hoping that maybe she would come back to him if he was enthusiastic. In a way, they shared that. He was just trying to get his carefree daughter back, the one he had trained to fight and shared his hair with.

Yang shrugged. She knew she was hurting him, that his gaze would drop to the floor and he would stand up now and slowly walk to the door hoping she would say something.

"Let me know if you need anything. Okay, kiddo?"

"Okay, dad."

She heard the door click shut.

Back to isolation. Sweet, silent isolation. She left the plate of food untouched and continued staring out of her window. She saw a black bird fly by the house and soar up into the air. She wondered how many feathers the bird had to lose before it couldn't fly. She moved her stump back and forth, feeling the pain of a phantom appendage. For a human only one feather had to be lost.

She remained like that, lost in self pity, for about an hour before she finally turned her attention to the tray of breakfast. By this point the eggs had gotten cold and the pancakes stale, but the fruit was still good, and Yang slowly ate piece by piece, not tasting any of it. She only ate because she needed to.

Necessities. That reminded her of another thing all humans and faunus need. Cleanliness. She got out of her bed, leaving the plate of food behind and walking down the hall to her bathroom. Although Yang rarely left her room, this was not a sign of improvement of her mental state, as Tai would have seen it. She was merely on autopilot. She was dutifully fulfilling a requirement for her own health and well being. She thought it was curious, even though she had no purpose to her life, she still instinctually continued living.

She found herself in the shower. Was the water hot or cold? She couldn't tell, She didn't feel anything. She stayed in the shower for an unknown amount of time, she was certainly not keeping track, just leaning against the wall and letting the water run over her. At some point she told herself that she had been in there for an appropriate duration and left the bathroom.

She went directly back to her room, and put the pajamas she wore before showering back on. She stood by the window and gazed outside. It had snowed sometime in the night, and fresh powder covered the surrounding forest floor, the bald trees couldn't catch all the snow before it landed on the ground. She looked down towards the cabin's front yard, she remembered playing with Ruby in the snow every winter.

At Signal academy every student would design, forge, and refine their own weapon, and there was no exception when Yang created Ember Celica. When she had come back for winter break Ruby, a crazy weapon fanatic even back then, was incredibly excited to see the gauntlets her older sister had made. They made snowmen in the front yard and Ruby enthusiastically watched as Yang blasted all of them. Yang almost let her use them, but Tai was watching and would have been against it. Ruby would have to wait to create her own weapon in two years. Yang remembered when she and Ruby had gone sledding that same winter vacation. Ruby had the idea to shoot Ember Celica behind them to propel them forward. They had sped down the hill, crashed into the forest at the base, and nearly broken their bones, but it was easily the most fun that Yang had felt, and it introduced a new use for the two gauntlets.

Her thoughts flowed to a different winter, one at Beacon Academy. The fountain in the courtyard entrance to the great school had frozen over, and Weiss was trying to teach Ruby how to skate on ice while Yang was sitting on the edge.

"Ruby, its easy. Push off with one foot and keep the other straight," Weiss lectured. _Easy for her to say_ , Yang had thought. Weiss Schnee and her fair skin, pale hair, white skirts, and ice blue eyes could somehow make anything seem graceful. She had been brought up in militant Atlas, where no doubt she had as many classes for behavior and social conduct as she did for academics and survival. Her family had been so rich and prominent that she had also probably been attending formal events before she could fight.

Yang watched Ruby stumble past her spot, wildly flailing her arms and running in place. Weiss glided close behind, following her struggling team leader. Yang watched the pair circle the fountain several more times. When Ruby fell down in front of her Weiss rolled her eyes and started skating by herself, probably classifying Ruby as a lost cause. Yang stood up and walked over to help her up. Yang didn't need skates to slide across the ice, it was smooth enough to simply let her momentum carry her across the surface.

She picked Ruby up and held her hand for a circuit around the fountain's perimeter. "Just keep your skate's straight, Ruby. I'll pull you along."

"Thanks, Yang," Ruby smiled sweetly up at her.

Yang looked down at her baby sister. Yang felt so strangely protective of her. Even though she knew Ruby was more than capable of defending herself, she was simply too innocent. To her the life she lived in was still a fairy tale. Ruby still believed in inherent goodness and that no fight was impossible to win for the good guys. Yang knew the line between good and bad was much more blurry than what Ruby saw it as, and she was terrified of Ruby one day realizing that not all endings are like fairy tales. Yang smiled back at Ruby and pulled her along the fountain's rim.

Ruby managed to go around the entire circular fountain without falling. When Ruby and Yang had returned to Yang's old spot, They found Weiss and Blake talking by themselves. Yang saw Blake's back, Blake was wearing her usual outfit, her low-heeled boots with black leggings, white shorts, a black vest over her white shirt, and of course she was wearing her black bow to hide the cat ears, evidence of her faunus heritage.

Blake turned towards the pair that were approaching her. Yang's lilac eyes met her partner's amber ones. Blake cracked her half smile and nodded towards Yang.

 _Snap out of it_. Yang started out of her reverie. Amazingly, her daydream had lasted almost the entire day. As she looked out her window again the sun was setting, casting an orange and yellow fire into the sky, and was reflected off of the white snow. Yang almost thought it was pretty. _Well,_ she thought, _Time to go back to bed._

Yang crawled back under her blankets, back into her safe haven and prison. She knew she would have another nightmare tonight, she always did. She only hoped she didn't scream. She pulled the blankets back up to her chin. Using her left hand still felt wrong. In protest, her brain felt a spasm of pain from a nerve that was no longer there, almost as if it wanted to remind Yang of her failure, to torture her. Yang slammed the stump against a pillow. "Stop hurting," she told the invisible hand. A pang was her only response. Yang closed her eyes and prayed for a sleep of no dreams, no consciousness, she only wanted a sweet and blissful nothing.


	3. Feel Anything

Yang found herself reliving an old childhood memory. She had just awoken and was looking up into the silver eyes of Summer Rose, her mother. Summer and Ruby were nearly identical, both were short in stature, had shoulder length dark hair, wide silver eyes, and a much paler complexion than that of Tai or Yang.

"Breakfast is ready, sweetie," Summer said with a smile. "Bring your little sister down and we can eat." She kissed Yang's forehead and left the room. Yang noticed her mother was wearing traveling clothes. She was dressed in light boots, a leather jacket, and denim jeans, an outfit that was carefully picked out for durability and warmth.

Yang threw off the covers of her bed and jumped down to the floor. She was in her old room, the room that she had shared with Ruby when they were little children. Her bed was still the same one she used presently, but Ruby had slept in a bed next to the door. Yang glanced over to the spot were Ruby had once spent her nights, sure enough the small bed with red blankets was there. As Yang walked to her sister's bed in her pajamas she noticed her body felt strange, her muscles were unresponsive and her reactions sluggish. She felt weak.

Yang drew back Ruby's red sheets to see her little sister, her _immensely_ little sister, the Ruby she saw was only a toddler. She took Ruby's shoulder and shook her lightly. Ruby didn't open her eyes and batted Yang away softly. Yang picked up Ruby and carried her down the hall and stairs to the kitchen. Yang supposed she had always been strong or Ruby had always been little. In the kitchen, Yang's parents were quietly talking, She could tell that Tai was upset and Summer was trying to console him. Tai was gesturing with his hands and Summer had both of hers on his chest, she seemed to be reassuring him. When they saw Yang had entered the room they quickly donned the roles of parents again. Summer smiled and gestured to the dining table where a full breakfast of eggs, fruit, and cereal had been placed. She took the toddler Ruby from Yang and placed her at the table, Tai ruffled Yang's hair and helped her into a chair opposite from Ruby. As the family sat down to breakfast, Longs on one side and the two Roses on the other, Ruby finally opened her eyes to feast.

Yang's vision blurred to a time after breakfast. Summer had put on her signature white traveling cloak with a matching hood and the four of them were standing on the porch of their home. It was sometime in summer, the trees on Patch were just losing their spring bloom and the sun was bright. Summer knelt down so that she was at eye level with Yang and Ruby.

"Take care of your little sister. Alright, Yang? You'll be starting school soon. I'll try to be back for your first day."

Yang remembered that she had said she would follow her mother's advice, but her mouth would not obey her commands.

Summer smiled and wrapped her daughters in her arms. She let go of the little girls and turned to Tai. They shared an embrace and Yang saw her whisper something in his ear, when Summer released Tai, Yang thought she seemed sad.

"Alright… Family hug." Summer said with a giant smile, probably in an attempt at lightening the mood of her goodbye.

The group granted her request, and Tai, Yang, and Ruby watched Summer leave their house for the last time. Her white cloak went down the path into the forest, rounded a bend, and never returned to Patch.

Yang's vision blurred again. When she regained it she was sitting in front of Tai with Ruby next to her. She hadn't seen her father like this. He was disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, and his otherwise humorous manner was nowhere to be found. Yang was worried about the reason for the family meeting. It had been two weeks after her mother was supposed to be home, and three weeks after their mother's last call to Tai. Ruby looked confused, She had never been old enough to remember a meeting such as this, she kept glancing from Yang to Tai and back. Tai was staring at some point that was not in the room. Yang was startled to see tears building up in his blue eyes.

"Girls, there's no easy way to say this," Tai began. "But, your mother… She's … not with us."

Yang's stomach twisted. The air left her chest and her throat felt like sand. Her fears, her worst nightmare, had been confirmed.

"I know she's not here, she's on a mission," Ruby piped up.

"Ruby, your mother … she died." Tai grimaced.

The statement sent a shockwave through the room. It shattered the foundations of the house, of the loving family that Yang and Ruby had grown up in. Everyone in the room had relied on Summer in some way and now that support was missing. Yang could feel the word whip Ruby, she saw the effect it had on her little sister. An instantaneous reaction signaled by the nearly imperceptible jump and intake of breath. Beside her, Ruby started sobbing.

Yang was now sitting in front of Tai and her "uncle", Qrow. In reality Qrow was only a dear friend of her father's. They had been on a team together while at the Huntsman academy of Beacon with Summer and one other person, whom they did not talk about. It had been about two months since Tai had told her about Summer and he looked terrible. Tai hadn't shaved or exercised since his lover was deemed dead. His usually muscular body had somewhat shrunk and his eyes were blank. The exact opposite could be said for her Father's old teammate. Qrow's windswept black hair was neatly styled, and his suit was crisp. His slender build hid the Huntsman's true strength. Yang could feel his red eyes studying her, analyzing her.

"How ya doin', kiddo?" He asked in his rasping voice. "You must be wondering why we asked you to talk to us, but … it has to do with your mother."

Yang remembered being confused. Summer had died, her body had been recovered and buried at Cliffside Forest, her favorite spot on Patch. To Yang, there was nothing more to discuss. Yang saw Tai stir at the word. "Why do we need to tell her now?" Her father asked Qrow.

"Because it is the right thing to do, she deserves to know and she would find out eventually. We agreed, Tai, you can't go back on your word now." Qrow and Tai glared at each other. Blue eyes finally backed down from the red in a sign of acquiescence.

Qrow turned back to the little girl in front of him, "Your father and I are incredibly sorry about Summer, we miss her terribly. You must know this does not affect how your father or I see you compared to Ruby, and that Summer loved you like any mother would love her own children."

Tai cut in, "Yang, you know that Summer, Qrow, and I… we were on a team together during our years at Beacon Academy, the other member of that team was Qrow's sister, Raven."

Qrow jumped back into the lecture, "You have never met her 'cause she ran away from Vale and society shortly after you were born… but, Yang, You should know that"-

"Yang," Taiyang silenced Qrow and left his seat to kneel down in front of his daughter, "Raven is your actual mother. We were in a relationship before Summer and I. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you had to find out this way and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, there was just…"

Yang closed her eyes, she willed her father's words to go away, they didn't matter, not anymore. Slowly Tai's voice faded into nonexistence and she opened her eyes again. She was now in front of the old shack she had seen in her father's picture of his old team. Ruby was in the wagon behind her, fast asleep. Yang remembered what would happen next. She was not scared when the Grimm crawled out of the decrepit building, or when the leader of the pack lunged at her. Qrow burst out of a hiding place to save his nieces. A few weak grimm are no match for a seasoned huntsman and Qrow quickly killed the creatures. After the brief fight, Qrow walked over to the girls. Yang looked down, bracing for a lecture. When she looked back up into her uncle's red eyes, she thought something was strange. His mouth seemed wider and his teeth sharper. Yang realized she wasn't looking at her uncle anymore but was instead facing a beowolf.

Yang's surroundings changed. She was now in a school room, standing in front of a caged beowolf. She looked around her and found herself surrounded by her friends from Signal academy. Her teacher was lecturing on the Grimm and the role huntsmen and huntresses played in society.

"The grimm are evil incarnate, children." She stated. "Scientists believe they do not require consumption of organic materials to survive, but despite this they still choose to attack humans exclusively. For this reason, the Huntsmen were founded after the Great War. Their purpose; to defend humanity and all it's creations from the grimm and anything else that would threaten our society's peace. You have all chosen to become warriors, and for those of you who will be accepted to Beacon, Atlas, Haven, or Shade, your career will be to fight for Humanity's survival against this." She gestured to the gigantic wolf-like creature in her classroom.

"At the academies you will be separated into teams of four people, made up of two partnerships. Your partner and team will experience life and death situations with you. You will fight, bleed, study, and bond with them for four years. Needless to say the bonds between teammates and partners are often incredibly strong upon graduation."

Yang snorted, her father was a perfect example of that, two women on his team and he had a child with both of them. She turned back to study the grimm. As she examined the bony face of the monster, her vision blurred and the images in her mind morphed to form another. The grimm's face had transformed into Raven's mask. Distinctly birdlike and with four eye slots, the mask made the woman hardly look human.

Yang saw her. Raven. The woman stood approximately fifty feet from Yang, but Yang could still make out every detail of her appearance. Her long black hair was tied back in a red sash and hung to the small of her back. A red and black loose shirt tucked into a black skirt, matching red spiked gauntlets on either arm, black boots up to her knee, a strange feathered cape attached to a belt clasping the shirt, and of course the terrifying mask.

There was a void between and around Yang and her absentee mother. Yang was happy to find she was once again in an adult body. She started running toward the woman's figure. She needed to find her mother, to see the face of the woman that had given her up and left her father. She needed to know why Raven left them.

Yang continued running towards her mother, but it seemed that her efforts were not getting her anywhere. In fact her legs were starting to get fatigued. They suddenly gave way and she collapsed. Yang slammed the ground with her right fist. Her right fist! She had her arm back. She stared at it, all thoughts of her lost mother gone, moving and rotating it in front of her eyes.

She heard footsteps approaching her, when she gazed back up to her mother she was horrified to find her standing directly over her, in a threatening position.

"Raven?"

The figure slowly reached up to its mask and pulled it over her black hair. To reveal the face and cat ears of Blake Belladonna.

Yang was shocked, but her accusation would still work in this situation. "You left me!" She screamed. "You abandoned me without saying goodbye or giving me a reason! We were partners!"

The apparition of Blake didn't say a word or acknowledge that her teammate had accused her of anything. She pulled her sword, Gambol Shroud, from a hidden place behind her back and brandished it in front of Yang's face. Yang refused to focus on the point of the weapon and instead continued looking into her friend's feline eyes, in an act of defiance and a catharsis for the abandonment she felt.

Blake blinked, and without a second of hesitation cut Yang's arm off. Yang screamed, this time there had been no aura to help with the pain, no shock or unconsciousness to aid her. Her left hand instinctively clutched just above the stump, ineffectively attempting to staunch the bleeding.

The figure with Blake's face took one step closer to the supine Yang. Yang saw a boot step into the pool of blood that had formed from her arm. The boot kicked the arm away and Yang heard Blake's weapon fold into the form of a pistol. With which it was able to shoot dust cartridges. Yang heard the distinctive click of a bullet sliding into Gambol Shroud's chamber.

Yang looked back to the being that had manifested itself as her former friend. It was pointing the pistol directly at her. Yang tried to think of something to say, something that would expel all of the frustration, anger, and hopelessness that she had felt because of losing her arm and closest friend in one night. She settled for, "FUCK YOU!"

The pistol fired and Yang saw a blinding light.

Yang awoke screaming. Her phantom arm was on fire. Every movement sent a memory of the arm she once had to her mind, and that in turn caused torture. She cradled the stump close to her chest, all the while whimpering when another wave of agony rolled across her imaginary limb.

Taiyang burst into the room, quickly followed by an excited Zwei, slamming the door against the wall in his haste to get to his daughter. He jumped onto her bed and pulled her closer to him, hurriedly asking her what was wrong, what she had seen.

"It was another nightmare wasn't it?"

Yang could only nod. Tai pulled her closer and brushed his hands through her hair, Zwei licked the tears off of Yang's cheeks. Yang almost felt like a baby again. She managed to stutter out, "I saw Raven and Blake They betrayed me." She let out a sob.

"Sweetie, don't cry. It was just a dream." Tai brushed the tears off of her face that Zwei had missed. "I'm going to go get you some pain pills," he said, noticing her protective position over her right arm. "Do you want anything else?"

"Yeah," Yang said. "Sleeping aids."

Tai nodded and left the room. Yang counted to thirty-four before he arrived back with a glass of water and two pills. Yang mumbled a thank you while she swallowed the medicine and chugged the water.

Tai hung around awkwardly. He had noticed this was the most conversation that he had managed to achieve with Yang for a long time, he should take advantage of that. He sat down on the bed, petting Zwei as an excuse to stay. "What was the dream about, honey?" He cautiously asked.

Yang told him everything. She wasn't sure why, maybe she was just tired of holding in so many emotions. That was an understandable reason, most people could only build up so much before erupting. She told him about remembering her childhood, how Blake was dressed as Raven and murdered her. Tai was silent for a long time.

"You've always wanted to chase Raven, ever since Qrow and I told you about her. Now it seems like you also desire to find Blake, but if you do decide to hunt either one of them down, you'll need someone to go with you." Tai advised.

"I have no one." Yang vehemently snarled. "Everyone left me, Blake, Weiss, Ruby, the survivors from JNPR, all the friends I had made from the other academies, they _all_ left."

Tai was hurt but did his best not to show it. "You don't have ' _No one_ '," He smiled. "You'll always have your old man, and Zwei here," He gave the quirky dog a pat on the head.

Yang's gaze turned to her father. "You can't help me."

Tai blinked. "Thats crazy, I can't help you with every situation you find yourself in, but you'll never be completely alone. You can always come back here."  
Yang's repressed rage had seeped out of a crack, but now the pressure that had formed behind her emotional barriers caused the crack to explode and it, unfortunately, focused on Taiyang. Tai backed away as he saw his daughter's hair begin to glow and her eyes turn a familiar shade of scarlet.

"I do not _want_ to come back here. I want to kill Adam and Cinder. I want to find my friends and know why my mother left me, left both of us. And I can't do that if I'm hiding here like you've done ever since Summer left!"

Yang regretted it as soon as she had said it, her left hand came up to her mouth and her gaze widened and all aspects of her rage diminished as she saw the pain in her father's expression.

"Dad … I'm so sorry." Yang wrapped him in a one armed bear hug before he could leave. "I didn't mean that, I'm not myself lately and I don't know what to do. But I do know that I could always come back to you, and I love you for that. You didn't deserve what I just said." She was rambling, trying to say anything that would make up for her outburst.

"Its okay, Yang. Go back to sleep." Tai said, disentangling himself from his daughter's embrace and going to the door. "Let me know if you need anything."

Yang watched her father leave her bedroom and close the door without looking at her.

Tai was at a loss. Yang had gotten that fury from her mother, and those eyes as well. Yang's eyes had a tendency to turn the same red of Raven's when she became infuriated. Tai had only seen those eyes come out of Yang when she was arguing with a bully or fighting an enemy. He had never been the recipient of that stare until tonight.

He walked down the hallway to the stairs leading to the family room of the cabin. Tai had experienced loss before, His first love had left him with a child, a brother-in-law, and no note. His second wife had shared a blissful four years with him before being murdered by the thing she was best at. After Summer, Tai had never felt like being with another woman, he had two little girls to worry about. However, they weren't little anymore.

Ruby was seeming more like Summer with every passing day, and running off with friends Tai had never met before to chase a Maiden was the exact thing that he had been dreading with Ruby. Ruby didn't need him anymore, and Yang needed someone to bring her out of this depression, but a father figure was simply someone she could not relate to enough.

Tai had had four loves in this world: Raven, Summer, Ruby, and Yang. Summer was lost to him forever, and Tai had long since become apathetic to Raven's whereabouts. Tai refused to let the same thing happen with his daughters. He could do nothing for Ruby right now except hope and keep his ears actively searching for any rumors from Haven. For Yang, he could try to relate to her, but his experiences with loss were fundamentally different from hers. Raven had abandoned him, but he understood her reasoning and had, in his own way, agreed with her that leaving would be best. Summer had been the hardest loss Tai had felt, but once again, that wasn't the abandonment of all his friends, his only sibling, and his predominant hand.

Tai was sitting on the couch in the bottom floor, thinking for the better part of an hour. Finally coming to a decision, he grabbed a candle and brought it into the study room of the house, where he graded all his students' papers from Signal. He lit the candle and placed it on the corner of his desk, rifling around his drawers, he produced a piece of paper and pencil. He sat down and began writing. The Cross Continental Transit system was down, and therefore nearly all communication was limited to letters, even within kingdoms.

Tai began with, "Hey, friend. I need your help."


	4. Introductions

Tai was on the front porch shoveling snow off of the wood and back onto the now covered forest floor. He had found himself grasping for any excuse to not be in the house. Being in the house was just a catalyst for internal conflict for Tai. He had been tortured for the last two weeks, Yang had been even worse since her last nightmare. He had thought she had been making progress, but after her last attack she had not spoken to Tai or left her room.

Tai placed the shovel against the door and sat on his porch, enjoying the view of the winter wonderland that had overcome his front yard. He remembered times with his teammates that included playing in the snow. They had all been kids once and, just like Ruby and Yang, had still been carefree enough to sled and make snowmen. Tai stood up and walked out to his front yard. He began to roll a ball of snow, intending to relive a childhood daydream when he heard steps from in the forest, behind him.

Tai turned to face the edge of the clearing where his cabin was built. His eyes roamed the tree line, searching for a source of the sounds of feet crunching snow. His eyes naturally snapped to a form that had seemed to melt from the white background. The figure was masculine, wearing a white traveling cloak and a hood. The cloak was long, ending just below the figure's knees. His black pants were tucked into leather boots and as he walked closer to Tai he threw back his hood to show his silver hair. Tai locked eyes with the figure and smiled, he jogged over and clasped his arm. "Glas Lir! Tai called out to his friend, "It is great to see you again."

The younger man turned his green eyes to Tai, "Likewise, Old Man. How long has it been, two years? You're practically graying!"

Tai ignored Glas' jibe and looked at the man. He was taller than Tai remembered, his silver hair had gotten a little longer than he had last seen. Tai also noted a new scar on Glas' stubbled jaw line. Interestingly, Glas' facial hair was a much darker shade than that on top of his head, but Glas kept it militarily short or shaved so it was not apparent if you did not know of him.

"I'm not that old, and you shouldn't be talking about gray hair. Besides you're the one going to feel like you're aging. You're, what, only about five years older than Yang?"

"That sounds about right, yes." Glas was smirking.

"Those years are terrible. You'll be in prime condition one day, then get knee pains the next, and before you know it, you're taking medication for arthritis, having to diet because your doctor tells you your metabolism has finally stopped, and then you're thinking about kids."

Glas chuckled and said with a wink, "You thought a little too much about kids."

Tai's face grew solemn, "I need your help."

"I read your letter, is she still here?"

"Yeah, she's shut down after the last nightmare, which was actually the night I wrote that letter. It was a rough year for her, disgraced in the tournament, her team has left her, and her arm. I thought you could talk to her, your experiences are closer to hers than mine are."

Glas nodded, "I can try. But ultimately it's her who has to make the decision to get up. It also may take a few days. If it's alright, may I stay? I could help you with any projects you have or just keep you company."

Tai slapped Glas on the back and started leading his friend to the cabin, "You can stay for as long as you'd like. Just call us even for that one favor I owe you."

If Glas believed that that was a fair trade or not he kept it to himself as he and Tai walked back to the cabin. Tai took the time to analyze his friend some more. Glas seemed to be favoring his left leg, and was usually more optimistic. To say that he and Tai ultimately could not definitively help Yang was worrisome. They reached the cabin and Tai opened the door for Glas.

As Glas walked into the cozy cabin he pulled off his traveling cloak revealing a white long-sleeve shirt, and a holstered rifle attached to a leather strap on his back. Tai noticed that Glas had definitely gained weight with muscle, he hoped his friend wasn't trying to fight more often.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Tai asked, trying to be a gracious host as Glas put his weapon and cloak next to the door.

"Has Qrow been here recently?"

"Not recently. No."

"Then I assume there is, at least, a drop of alcohol in your kitchen."

Tai turned to look inquisitively at Glas. He had never known the man to drink. "Uhh, yes there is." He said defensively.

"Then I'll just have some tea, thank you." Glas said with a smile.

Tai went to the kitchen to put the kettle on the stove, ignoring the sudden shift of topic. "What have you been up to, recently?" He asked his guest.

Glas walked over to the kitchen and took a seat at the dining table, "It has been absolute madness in Vale. People are terrified of the police and huntsmen just as much as the Grimm and rumors of Atlesian military. Nobody knows who to trust, and the frozen dragon on top of Beacon Tower is a constant reminder of Vale's vulnerability. That causes fear, that causes grimm attacks, and that causes more fear and distrust. It's a terrible cycle."

Tai sat down opposite of Glas. "How do you feel about all of that?"

Glas frowned and dropped his gaze to the hardwood table, he started tapping his fingers against it. "I always knew Vale was, at least, partially vulnerable, people had gotten too used to feeling like the grimm were just a scary nighttime story to tell children to make them stay inside. That image was destroyed three times in the last year, Tai. First Ironwood shows up with half his damn air force, showboating Atlas strength in an entirely different kingdom, that started making people wonder why they were preparing so hard, then the outbreak of grimm that your daughters had a hand in halting before anything disastrous occurred, then _that_ night. People don't think that Vale is secure anymore. Crime has increased and not many people view the safe zone as "safe", most of them feel like they're being held against their will. On top of that, faunus are being discriminated in the city more so than ever, people blame them for the White Fang attacking, most seem to think all faunus were a part of it. It's a mess."

Tai took the news heavily. He had suspected that would be the reaction from the citizens of Vale who had no idea of the actual events taking place. Most of them couldn't know. Tai was curious if Glas knew, the man seemed to always be more aware than he should be of certain things. "What were you during that night, Glas?"

Glas looked back up at Tai, "I was in Beacon watching the tournament from my apartment. When that witch's message came on I went out because I knew something wasn't right. I fought off the grimm from inside the city and tried my best to save citizens fleeing to the safe zone. I couldn't save all of them, though."  
"Such is life." Tai muttered.

Glas nodded, "It's a bitch."

The kettle started whistling and Tai got up to pour himself and Glas tea. While he came back he gave Glas a pointed look, "You haven't been fighting have you?"

Glas took his tea and sipped, determinedly studying a knot in the grain of wood on the table and refusing to meet Tai's gaze. "What makes you think that I am?"

"Your right leg is hurting you."

"I fell."  
"You have a bruise just under your eye."

"People are irritable in Vale right now."

"You have a scar on your jawline."

"That was from a long time ago."

"Glas," Tai gave him a hard look.

Glas conceded, "I have to fight more now. I just told you how rough it is in Vale right now. I'm fighting to help others, not because it satisfies some thrill-seeking adrenaline-junky side of me."

"You know what Qrow and I said. You need to slow down, you can handle your own, but even hunters need to rest; much more so, fighters like yourself with no huntsman training. You can't fight the world, and grimm never stop coming back." Tai said with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Glas looked at his friend with worry. He had hoped that Tai going back on missions was a sign that he had stopped viewing huntsmen's goals as futile. It had started when Summer was killed, but Glas didn't know Tai during that event.

Glas spoke up, "I know that you and Qrow believe I'm pushing myself, but I like living and I only fight when necessary. It has just been necessary a lot more, lately."

Tai nodded. He was sure it had been.

"And technically, I _do_ have huntsman training."

They finished their tea peacefully and enjoyed each other's company. As they caught up and made small talk Tai realized he had missed having a friend who wasn't a constant reminder of his first wife or the missions he had avoided. Glas had missed his older friends company as well, he only wished that Tai and Qrow's friendship wouldn't be so strained, he remembered they were closer when he had first met them.

Tai and Glas finished their tea at the same time, and Glas felt no more need for pleasantries. "Is she upstairs?" He asked.

Tai gave him a nod and stood up, Glas did the same. Both men walked up the stairs and into Yang's room. Yang was sitting up in her bed looking out her window, like she always was. Zwei was curled up near the foot of her bed.

"Hey kiddo," Tai entered the room first and knelt next to Yang.

"I want you to meet someone, an old friend of mine, Glas Lir. He's actually not that much older than you."

Glas took his cue and walked in behind Tai. Yang looked up to see the newcomer. His green eyes locked with her lilac ones, and he smiled. She did not reciprocate the gesture.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Glas said, maintaining a smile. He held out his hand, carefully extending his left one to not embarrass her.

"Likewise," She said shaking his hand.

Glas smiled, maybe this wasn't a lost cause after all. "I'm friends with your dad, He's always raved about his eldest daughter. I've heard you're pretty great in a fight."

Yang didn't smile, "Well I used to kick ass." She played heavy sarcasm onto the last two syllables. Her gaze drifted down to her elbow, "I actually used to _punch_ ass."

Tai gave Glas a look. Glas nodded.

"Well I have some dishes to do, so … uh … I think I'll go do those." Tai awkwardly shuffled out of the room. Glas fought the temptation to roll his eyes. Tai had never been smooth before, you would think that he was trying to set up his bedridden amputee daughter on a date. It was a miracle he had managed to have relationships with both of the women on his team.

Glas grabbed a chair and pulled it next to the bed, Zwei followed and eagerly rolled over next to his chair, showboating his stomach for Glas. "I bet you're wondering why your father and I are friends. He seems a little too old to be hanging out with me."

Yang went back to staring out the window, she didn't respond.

Glas knew better than to force her to say something back, instead he bent down to rub Zwei's belly. Glas waited patiently by counting to two-hundred before asking a second question, "So has your father ever mentioned me?"

Yang snorted, "Why would he?"

"What do you mean?"

"I rarely talk to my father. So when I do, what makes you think that we would waste time on a subject of someone I had never met before?"

"Your father has known me since I was as old as your younger sister, I thought at least some stories would be interesting enough to tell you."

"So you and my father went on adventures together?"

Glas knew she was being facetious, he and she were both well aware that Tai had not gone on any missions since Summer had passed away until recently.

"Not exactly, I usually went out with Qrow actually, but your father taught me a lot when you and Ruby were at Signal."

Yang looked at the stranger in her bedroom with suspicion. Her eyes closed slightly and she kept her tone even when replying.

"You're freaking me out. I don't know anything about you, but you seem to already know a lot about me.

Glas nodded, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Your father talks a lot about his daughters, He loves you very much."

Yang said nothing in response. She still felt guilty over her outburst about two weeks ago. Her father had been avoiding her but she couldn't think of how to make it up to him.

"So you don't know who I am?" Glas inquired once more.

"No, Gloss, I don't know who you are, but I bet you're very important since you keep asking me." Yang was still looking out her window.

"Glas," Glas politely corrected. "Well if you ever wan't to get to know me, I'll be staying here for a small while."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Glas took that as a sign that he was overstaying his welcome.

"I'll leave you alone, then. It was nice to meet you, Yang." Glas left the room and followed Tai's trail back to the kitchen. He found Tai sitting back at the dining table, "How is she?" He asked.

Glas answered while sliding into a seat opposite from Tai, "She doesn't seem depressed, only angry and bitter. She's probably just suffering from the traumatic experiences of the last year."

"You don't think she is sad?"

"She is sad, but if she's anything like you've said, her sadness is being displaced by anger. She's always fought with anger for her own amusement or her friends, but now that all those purposes have abandoned her she doesn't know what to do or what to fight for anymore."

"So how does she get out of it?"

"She finds something different to fight for."

Tai was silent for a long time before he asked, "How did you get out of it?"

Glas was surprised Tai had brought that up, both Qrow and Tai new about the reason Glas had trained to fight, but neither of them had ever asked about the consequences. "I realized what I had desired for my entire life was worthless, and that making sure no one had to go through my experiences; that was my new motivation in life. And it made me get over my disappointment."

Tai and his friend gazed at each other. "You look like you've aged ten years since I last saw you," Tai remarked.

Glas chuckled mirthlessly, "this last year, who hasn't?"


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

 **JUST A JOKE**

Yang was in her room, watching the stranger named Glas chop firewood in the clearing outside as Zwei pranced around the man's feet. She noticed he had a strange looking gun strapped to his back. It was long and slender, rather rectangular in shape and pure black. Near the trigger the butt of the rifle was circular and even thinner than the rest of the gun before extending to the form-fitting shoulder crutch. She had assumed he had some sort of weapon since he had mentioned going on adventures with her uncle Qrow. She hadn't pictured something that seemed so delicate. It wasn't long enough to be a sniper rifle, nor did it have a large enough magazine to be automatic. She assumed it could be a semi-automatic much like Pyrrha's rifle, Miló, but that wouldn't be effective if the wielder was surrounded or overwhelmed.

Giving up on finding a suitable purpose for the weapon, she instead decided to study the man who carried it. Ankle-deep in the fresh snow and wearing only black pants and a white top he hardly looked like the cold temperatures bothered him. Glas was as tall as her father, maybe just a little shorter, but much bigger than either Tai or Qrow. Both her father and her uncle were slim men, Glas had a wider build with broader shoulders, she didn't correlate this to physical strength however. Yang had seen plenty of people much lighter than her perform amazing feats of endurance and power.

Yang watched him pick up the pile of wood he had cut and begin to walk it back to the cabin. Zwei bounded in the fresh snow after his new friend. Yang decided Glas would almost look like a Schnee if his eyes were blue and his skin slightly lighter. Yang was curious about him and, frankly, was not sure if she trusted him, he was a stranger who had apparently known about her school and had been told by her father about her fighting abilities, yet her father had never mentioned him before. She found it extremely strange that someone who was on such good terms with her family could never be discussed with neither her nor Ruby. Yang was sure that Ruby had not known this Glas character, if she had Ruby would have told her. If Ruby hadn't mentioned him it was because she did not think it was important. Yang believed whole-heartedly her sister would have not hidden him from her.

Glas returned back to the wood pile for another trip and bent downward to give his corgi follower a few pets before continuing back into the house. Yang followed his movements. She didn't think he was a threat, but she was sure that her father had kept this man's identity or friendship a secret and she wanted to know why. Why would this seemingly insignificant man be of such prevalence to warrant hiding him from Ruby and herself?

Yang's musings had made her so active that she was actually standing out of her bed and had realized how horrible her clothes smelled. She promptly grabbed a fresh set of pajamas and continued to the shower.

As Glas went outside for his last round of carrying in firewood he kneeled down in the snow to give Zwei more attention. He rubbed the dog's head and looked into the minuscule mirror he had attached to the pup's collar. He moved the piece of glass to reveal the upstairs window of Yang's room. She was gone. He got up and grabbed the remaining firewood. He allowed a smug smile to appear on his face as he walked back into the warmth of the house. _I guess Yang got tired of spying on me_ He thought to himself.

Yang dried her hair with one arm by wrapping the towel around her head and allowing the largest amount of water to simply be absorbed by the towel before slowly turning her head and the towel in opposite directions. The entire process with her extraordinarily long hair took the better half of an hour. Yang sighed, with two arms she could have finished the chore in only five minutes. In response to the onset of nostalgia her right arm pinched an invisible muscle.

Yang stepped out of the bathroom and promptly barricaded herself in her bedroom again, this time, however, with fresh clothes. Yang went back to the window to see if Glas was still in the yard but all that remained of the mysterious man were footprints in the snow. Yang frowned, it still didn't make sense to her. Truthfully, her father's antics almost never made sense to her but never had a hidden friend suddenly been introduced to her for no apparent reason. Yang suspected that her father thought Glas could help her with depression or her anger but so far the man had made no attempts for two days of living in the same home as Yang.

Yang felt her frustration growing. She preferred not being in the dark on anything that her father had hatched, usually they were harmless pranks on his daughters but this felt much more serious. Yang forced herself to breathe, told herself that there was no reason to let a single man's presence affect her so greatly, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed; no, maybe left out? She had always assumed that her father had no secrets from her. Now one of his secrets was living with her.

A knock on the door snapped her back to reality. Yang composed herself and turned to the door, painting a blank expression onto her face to not allow anyone coming in to read her thoughts.

"Come in," Yang called.

Tai opened the door shyly and stepped into Yang's room.

"Hey, kiddo."

Yang nodded cooly, "Hey, Dad."

Tai looked down at the floor, clearly having a hard time expressing what caused him to come into the room. Yang knew the face, it was his face when he had to deliver news he didn't think Yang or Ruby would like, or it was the face when he had to ask a question that he wasn't comfortable with. Yang had seen it often and now wondered which scenario it was. If it was the question, Yang desperately hoped it would not be correlated to finding Glas attractive.

"I'm leaving to go back to Vale to help with the safe area."  
Yang had a fleeting moment of elation that her father was not trying to set her up on a blind date when she was bedridden. It was quickly extinguished by the reality that she would be alone with Glas for as long as Tai was gone.

"So Glas is going with you? So I'm going to be home alone?" Yang inquired, clutching at her last strand of hope.

"No."

The strand shattered, burned, and blew away in smoke with a single syllable.

"Glas will stay here to keep you company. I hope that's okay," Tai finished.

Yang was silent. Tai endured her disquieting stare for a minute before finally asking, "What's wrong, Yang?"

Yang's frustrations boiled over and spilled out in a single inquiry, "Who the hell _is_ Glas anyway, Dad?"

Yang did not let her momentum stop. "He says he has gone on adventures with Qrow and that you taught him 'a lot' when Ruby and I were at Signal together, that means he has known you for at most six years and two at the least. Why is it that I never hear about him before two days ago when out of the blue he suddenly pops up? What are you hiding from me? Is he my babysitter? Do you think I'm too weak to take care of myself when you're gone?"

Yang did not yell but Tai sensed the intensity in her speech. He sighed and sat down on Yang's bed, gesturing with a pat for her to sit down as well. He was pleased when Yang complied.

"I know I don't keep much from you girls," Tai started. "But there are some stories that are not mine to tell. I can tell you that Glas and I have known of each other for a little over twelve years now but we have only gotten closer in the last six or seven of those years. He and Qrow met in Vale, and through Qrow he met me. I was in a dark place, it was right after Summer had passed away and you and Ruby were still so small."

Yang listened, not moving a muscle or showing a sign of her reaction to her father's story.

Tai continued, "Just like I would never tell him stories of your personal life that you did not wish to be public I would not tell you stories of him that he found private. For him, that is nearly his entire life. He did tell his story to Qrow and I and because of that we decided to help him, and we became friends with him. He had his mind set on a mission and we helped him accomplish it. We have been doing each other favors ever since. I only started helping him when Ruby left to Signal. I had to do something with all my new free time. He had helped me from the moment he met me. His story and his determination helped me move past Summer's passing and Raven's flight. He made me better appreciate the things in life I still had, like you and Ruby. I know it sounds ridiculous, a ten year old giving a life lesson to a thirty-something year old but it is true. We still kept in touch but he never asked to meet you or Ruby, he probably felt like it was a private aspect of Qrow's and my life, and so I never mentioned him. I invited him here because, if he helped me, I thought he could help you." Tai finished, bringing his gaze back up to his daughter.

Yang stared at her father for a long time before finally wrapping her remaining arm around him and hiding her face in his shoulder, like she used to when she was a child. Yang wanted to forget all her troubles, to not know about the evils in the world and to be whole again. She was touched that her father worried about her that much and she finally tried to make up for her outburst.

"I'm fine, Dad. Trust me. But if it would help you feel better, I'll give Glas a chance."

Tai wrapped his daughter in an embrace, "Thank you, firecracker. I know you'll be okay."

They let go of each other and Tai stood up. He walked to the door of Yang's bastion but before leaving he turned around. "I'll be gone for two weeks, max," He smiled at his eldest daughter. "And a fair warning; Glas can be antagonistic at times, but he is really here to help. He doesn't have a selfish bone in his body."

Tai turned to leave, and Yang flashed back to a similar day when she saw her little sister walk out of the cabin without saying goodbye. "I love you!" She called out to her father.

Tai stopped and turned to face Yang. His smile seemed to make him younger, cares and worries that had been etched onto his face disappeared, "I love you too, Yang."

Tai left the room and after a crisp goodbye to Glas, headed back to Vale as a hunstman.

Yang was still in her room when Glas called her from downstairs, telling her that dinner was ready. She hadn't eaten downstairs since she had arrived back in Patch. Her father had always just served a plate and brought it up to her. Glas had seen this for two days, Yang believed he would understand the system that she and her father had created without planning or discussion. Yang waited patiently for her plate of food to arrive, she had no concept of time but she became irritable when she felt her stomach growl and no food had been brought up to her.

She smelled the aromas coming from the kitchen, it was a blend of herbs and cooked vegetables, probably a type of soup. Yang inhaled deeply through her nose once more, she concluded it was definitely chicken based with rosemary sprigs. Her stomach protested and her mouth watered, but her stubbornness would not allow her to leave the room.

Eventually hunger and frustration gave way to pride and Yang walked down to the kitchen, following the aromatic lust of a warm meal on a cold day.

Yang walked down the stairs and saw Glas sitting at the dining table. There was a pot on the stove and two place settings on the table. Glas was sitting at one and had not yet eaten anything, obviously waiting for Yang to join him.

Yang sulked over to the dining table and sat down opposite from the destroyer of her routine. She did not say anything but merely gave Glas a neutral look. He gave her a warm smile in response.

"Can I get you a bowl of soup?" He asked her politely, as if he hadn't been waiting for her to come down for nearly an hour.

Yang nodded. Glas dutifully set about serving himself and Yang, making sure to give Yang her food first (something which annoyed her because of his politeness and made her grateful because she had not realized how hungry she was).

He placed a bowl of soup in front of Yang, he included a small plate of crackers and a salad onto the dining table. As he sat down Yang was already nearly half finished with her share and showed no signs of returning the courtesy he had shown her.

Glas neatly spooned his soup and nibbled on crackers while making small talk which Yang had no interest in. She registered an apology for only making soup because he was not a skilled chef. She murmured a response and continued to feast, obviously Glas had done a well enough job with the soup to gain Yang's approval of his culinary expertise.

She started on her second serving and continued to ignore Glas' prattling about finding the rosemary in the forest outside. She knew of only one topic that he could discuss with her that would have her interest. She slurped the last drops of soup from her bowl before finally turning her attention to the man across from her who was currently talking about the differences between rosemary leaves and rosemary seeds.

"… and of course you don't want that flavor in a savory soup, you would rather use the leaves that are much spicier. The proper way to cook them has been debated, but I believe it is ideal if you…"  
Yang could not believe someone who had gone on adventures with trained huntsman could be so dull. She decided to interrupt him, mainly cause she wanted to ask him questions and also because she could not withstand his mind-numbing chatter any longer.

"…That way the juices of the leaves blend nicely and-"

"That's really interesting, Glas." Yang cut him off. "But I'm more curious about you yourself actually. What do you do?"

If Glas was put off by being interrupted during his lecture of proper cooking of herbs he did not show it. Instead he smiled and stated, "Oh, I'm not that interesting." He dismissed Yang's argument with a wave of his hand.

"I would disagree."

Glas raised an eyebrow at his new interrogator and his emerald eyes narrowed slightly. "Would you?"

Yang was not perturbed, "Yes. I would. My father never keeps things from me. So why is it that I have never heard of you? How do you know my father, and how are you familiar with so many huntsmen?"

Glas stared at Yang, matching her gaze before he finally responded. "You don't trust me do you?"  
Yang saw no reason to lie, "I don't know who you are, and I don't trust people who I don't know. Not anymore anyway."

Glas nodded, her answer was fair. "Have you ever seen your uncle's weapon?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I helped him modify it."  
Of all the reasons Yang had created and debated for Glas' relation to her family Yang had not expected an answer that simple.

"Thats it?"

"Yep."  
"That is how you know Qrow?"

"Mhm." Glas' attention was back onto his food.

Yang was not satisfied. "How did you help him? Most huntsmen design their weapons themselves."

"They do, and he did." Glas acknowledged. "But Qrow was having difficulties. He had designed the sword and scythe functions of his weapon but wanted a ranged option as well. At the time, I was about en years old and working with a gun manufacturer in Vale's industrial district, he was more of a mentor and father than a boss. Qrow stopped by the shop I was apprenticed at and asked to see my manager himself. I was in awe, I had never seen a hunstman before and I was too young to realize he was more drunk than sober.

"Anyway. I lead him to our manager. I was too scared to say anything or ask any questions, but I stayed behind to see what the superhero wanted. My manager looked at his plans and sized him up, he charged Qrow twice as much what he would have offered a normal customer and when Qrow argued it was unfair my manager threw him out and blamed it on Qrow's alcoholism. I had seen Qrow's plans and I knew it could be done, He just needed parts and a professional workshop. I followed him out of the shop and offered him my services, I would sneak him into the shop when my boss wasn't around and he and I could work on the gun together. He took me up on my offer after I had proven myself capable of understanding weapons and that I was worthy of such a task.

"Qrow and I would meet up every other night in my boss' workshop. It took a few weeks but we managed to configure the gears and mechanisms of Qrow's weapon to include a gun function." Glas finished his story.

Yang had seen Glas' eyes fade and look at a point in the past. She had seen his face when the man reminisced about his first encounter with Qrow, a hunstman, and she believed him.

"What happened next?" She asked, goading him to continue.

"Well we talked a lot during our sessions, and I told him my life story. I wasn't as secretive back then." Glas mouth pressed into a thin line. Yang almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Glas' face softened when describing the next part of his story, "I guess I made a good impression, because Qrow gave me the option of becoming his own apprentice. Not full time, obviously. I still had to help my boss out with his workshop, but Qrow did offer to teach me how to fight. I did what any ten year old with a love for adventure and huntsman legends would do; I agreed. Qrow introduced me to your father, and he supported Qrow's decision after I had told him my story as well. It was right after he lost Summer, that was a really hard time for him."

Yang looked down. So her father had told her the truth. She had one more question, "What was your story?"

Glas let out a single barking laugh, "You won't get that story out of me tonight, Yang."  
Yang frowned, "Why are you so secretive?"  
Without a moment of hesitation Glas cooly countered her accusation. "Why are you so reclusive?"

Yang was taken aback, no one had been this blunt towards her since Beacon. "Excuse me?!" She exclaimed.

Glas' voice did not soften, "From what Tai told me about you, I predicted you to be a happy and fierce young woman who had a clear purpose in mind and loved her family. And you have perfectly missed those expectations."

Yang said nothing, but her left hand curled into a fist and her right hand was burning.

Glas continued, "That's why I am here, your father wanted me to help you."

Yang interrupted, "I don't _need_ your help! I'm fine on my own!"

Glas answered nonchalantly, "You haven't helped yourself so far, and it seems like you've shut out anyone who has tried."  
"That is not remotely true!"

Glas narrowed his eyes, "Yeah? Where's Ruby?"

Glas watched Yang's eyes burn into a scarlet and her hair begin to brighten. He leaned back and braced himself for Yang to launch herself at him, but she remained sitting.

Yang countered, "You do not know what I have gone through. You did not know me before I lost my arm and you do not have the right to pass judgement onto me. If you saw me before they left you would see that I have nothing but love for my sister and I would do anything for her, for any of my friends."

"Oh? So that's why you stayed behind and in bed when she went out to find the people who killed your … _friends_." Glas placed heavy emphasis on the last word.

Yang's hair began to glow brighter, but she did not say anything so Glas continued.

"And either way you have just admitted yourself that you have changed in behavior. And that is why your father wanted my help."

Yang was bristling. "You can't help me, nobody can."

"I know, Yang. Believe me, I know. The only person who can help you is you."

Yang was even more frustrated now, "Then why are you here?! If you just said that you can't help me why would you try?"

Glas calmly sipped his water and placed it back on the table, taking his time partly to annoy Yang.

"Because you won't help yourself without me." Glas turned the entirety of his green gaze to her red eyes. "The world knocked you down like it knocked me down a long time ago, the only difference is that I got up. It's not my job to make sure that you get up, but I know the Yang from a year ago would be disgraced by you if you don't."

Yang bolted upright, sending her chair flying backwards into the far side of the cabin wall. Glas remained sitting.

"Do. Not. Talk to me. That way." She said through clenched teeth, holding back fury that had been suppressed for months.

Glas stood up and gave Yang a hard glare. "I'll stop talking to you like that when I see you get up and make improvements. Until then, you can tell me about how you've been helping yourself get over this hump without my motivation. In fact, if you give me one good example, I'll leave right now."

Yang had been hit with the ace card and she knew it. Nothing she could say would be good enough evidence to support her case. So she did the only rational thing; She stormed upstairs in a flash of glowing hair and scarlet eyes and slammed the door shut, nearly breaking it off the hinges.

Glas sighed, he supposed that could have gone better but all-in-all he considered it a success. He sipped the last of his soup, long cold by now, and walked out the front door. He had a lot to prepare for.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

 **EMBERS**

Yang awoke to a frozen house. Her breath frosted in front of her face with each exhale of her lungs and a thin layer of ice covered her window. The thin blanket she had used to sleep did nothing to block the cold, and she quickly donned jeans and a jacket for the first time in months. When her toes began to feel numb she was forced to put on her old boots, her socked feet slid into the well worn leather easily.

She opened her bedroom door to see an empty hallway, she quickly let go of the freezing doorknob and stepped out of her room. She looked down from the stair case into the main downstairs room. She saw no sign of Glas, but the door was open and a blizzard had blown some snow into the room up to ten feet within the door. Yang walked back into her room and grabbed the single left gauntlet of Ember Celica from her dresser. She struggled to place it on her wrist but was able to with time. It was the first time she had worn it since Beacon was attacked, she realized.

Expanding the shotgauntlet into the firing mode, Yang cautiously proceeded down the stairs and swept the kitchen and her father's study. Not a soul was in the downstairs area, and there was no sign of Glas. Yang turned to the open front door and proceeded to look outside. A blizzard was falling, and the open door had rendered the insulated walls and roof useless.

Yang stepped onto the first few feet of snow and walked into the open door frame and gazed into her front yard. She stopped partially because of confusion and unease.

There were dozens of snowmen in her front yard. Irregularly placed and all seemed to be facing each other. Yang slowly stepped out from the safety of the cabin to the white fury of the blizzard. The snow was so dense Yang could hardly see twenty feet in front of her, but she stepped close to the first snowman.

It was taller than her and had a name in its chest, someone had placed tiny rocks into the center ball of the snowman, and also given it eyes and a mouth. The first snowman was named "Jaune". Yang studied its face, the eyes were too far apart and the mouth wasn't long enough. She moved one more rock to the side to get Jaune's half-smile perfect.

Yang continued down the lanes of snowmen, passing Nora, Sun, Sage, Neptune, Ren, and many others before discovering four more that were separate from the rest of the group. These snowmen were different than the others. They didn't have names on the chests, but instead had detailed designs into their heads and faces. The shortest one had silver rocks for eyes and had a large tree branch that bent at a ninety-degree angle leaning against its back, The second one had icicles for hair and blue flowers for eyes and a gash over the one on the left, the third had dandelions for eyes and a bow on its head, the fourth had a circular crown that rested just below its red-leafed hair and had what seemed like rolled-up balls of green grass where the eyes should be.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha.

Yang was nearly certain that she was dreaming at this point. Her nightmares had stopped but she never believed that they would go away completely. Maybe this bizarre winter scene was her minds steady regression to insanity. Yang shut her eyes and attempted to block out the substitutions of her friends, the bitter cold, the snow and gusts that buffeted her every few seconds. She tried to tell herself to wake up and move past the visions, she gritted her teeth and clenched her left hand, feeling her right hand tense as well. A voice behind her broke her concentration.

"Hey, Yang!"

Yang turned to see Glas in his traveling Jacket working his way through the irregular flurries to stand by her side. His rifle was across his back and he was wearing stronger boots than she had seen him wear before. When he finally reached her he gestured to the snowmen in front of them.

"Do you like my work?"

Yang wasn't surprised. If anyone had done something this weird it would have had to be the enigma by her side. "Why did you make them?" She found herself asking, more to herself than to him.

Glas left her side to go stand next to the snowmen with her sister's scythe. "Well, I figured since your friends left you and you were feeling lonely, I could remake them for you." He gave her a warm smile, seemingly genuine.

Yang did not mirror the image. Glas was beginning to irritate her. Yang forgot about her promise to her father, she refused to tolerate Glas' antics anymore. Not holding back her obvious scorn at his work, she spat "Why the hell would I appreciate that?"

She gestured angrily towards the collection of frozen copies. "These aren't my friends. And making snowmen copies of them won't bring them back."

"Then what would bring them back? Laying in bed all day?" Glas retorted, staring her down.

For a while the only sound between them was the whistling wind between the two bodies locked in a battle of wills. Yang, desperately thinking of ways to block the attempts this strange man was enacting. Glas was patiently waiting for a retort, he wanted to see Yang rise up and challenge him, like she would have before she lost her arm. Finally Yang broke the intense silence between them, but she did not back down in stance nor did she drop her gaze.

"You wouldn't understand. Even if I was there and trying to find them, most of them wouldn't want to be found, especially Blake." Her stare transferred to the snowman with the likeness of Pyrrha, "And some of them can't be found."

Glas nodded, "True, but that would never have stopped you before. If Blake ran away, you would just let her leave without searching?" Yang's subtle grimace and shrink let Glas know that he had guessed correctly. "Ahhh," He sighed, "I see. She's done it before, but now that you're the victim, you feel abandoned, not necessarily like she ran away but she left you behind."

Yang's blond hair began to shimmer. "Glas. If I were you, I would stop talking about Blake. If you don't know me, you would know nothing about her, so stop psycho-analyzing both of us."

Glas had felt her bend a little, and he decided to push harder. "What's wrong, Yang? Never lost someone before? I have!" He took two steps closer to Yang. "I know that Blake, Pyrrha, Weiss, or _any_ of your friends wouldn't want you to waste away in bed, so why disappoint them and, eventually, yourself?" Glas took careful notice of the snow steaming off of Yang's body and hair now.

He left Yang to go back to the snowmen. He stood by Pyrrha's and grabbed his rifle. While holding onto the circular portion of his weapon, he flicked a small switch with his thumb. Blades on both sides of the rifle's long muzzle appeared and extended outward. The muzzle folded in on itself several times to finally form a two-handed broadsword, a claymore. More slender than Qrow's sword, but just as long, if not longer.

Looking at Yang, he pronounced clearly, "Pyrrha is dead." With a smooth stroke he cleaved the topmost sphere of the snowman into two. "And Blake left you." He brushed off the facial features of the faunus snowman. "Weiss left all of you." He completely pushed the third snowman over. "And finally, Ruby went off to save the world." He did not alter the fourth snowman, but when he looked back at Yang he was pleased with his results. Yang was positively radiating energy. The snow within five feet of her was beginning to melt and her hair was a beacon through the storm. He had to drive the nail into the coffin. _Possibly_ my _coffin_ He thought, nearly retracing his steps. "They are all gone, and for some there's nothing you can do, but for others it's not too late to chase them down, Yang. But instead you've lost faith in yourself." Glas took a deep breath and braced himself, "I wonder what they would think of you staying in bed all day. They certainly wouldn't recognize you as their former teammate."

Yang blasted towards him in a blaze of yellow fury and scarlet eyes. Melting all the snow in her path and burning the atmosphere around her. Her left hand slammed into Glas' chest, sending an explosive dust cartridge into the man's torso. The larger mercenary was sent skyward, flew for nearly twenty feet, and crashed behind the tree line in the forest. Yang watched the impact sight, but nothing seemed to leave it. Jumping into the air, she chased her prey. She wasn't done with Glas Lir just yet.

Yang landed in the crater that Glas had left. It was a few feet deep and about five wide. And it did not have Glas in it. Yang rotated her head, scanning the ground for any signs of where the man traveled to. She couldn't find any footsteps, it seemed like Glas had floated directly from where he crashed to some other location. There were no indentations to support that he had jumped somewhere nor tracks to indicate he left by foot.

Yang was still searching when she heard a gunshot. Instinctively she somersaulted backwards, forgetting that she only had one hand. Her left arm gave out and she collapsed, but still had managed to dodge the blast that impacted with the crater. Now the hole was even more charred than before. It took Yang seconds to analyze the new blast zone and deduce the direction the shot had come from. As she began to sprint towards where she believed Glas was, a figure melted out of the white-out flurry.

Glas had leaped from wherever his vantage point had been and was now speeding towards Yang with his sword drawn. Yang held up Ember Celica and felt the impact of the blade on her left arm. The two combatants held their pose there, staring at each other over their interlocked weapons with gritted teeth. Yang pushed his blade away and to the ground, making his face inches from hers and in front of her elbow. Firing, she used the recoil to speed her arm backwards and cut her elbow into his jawline.

Glas reeled but was quickly able to recover. He dodged two more punches from Yang and then swung his rifle like a bat to send the shining blonde backwards. Yang took the time to jump behind a tree and rethink her strategy. Glas had his white jacket on, and that gave him an advantaged camouflage in the storm, while her hair was shining through what must have been most of the flurries. Yang decided she couldn't let her opponent fall back to long distance, he would just take pot shots at her with his rifle until he finally got lucky.

Peering around her hiding spot, she tried to locate Glas. Scanning the forest was almost useless because she could only see the trees that were within twenty feet of her. Far off she spied a muzzle flash and she quickly withdrew her face. The tree exploded into splinters where her head had been and a growth of ice crystals quickly spread over the surrounding bark. Yang sighed, of course the gun would be able to fire dust cartridges. More explosions rocked the tree and Yang knew he was firing into it trying to destroy her cover.

She leaped into the branches of a tree just adjacent to her, nearly falling because she still wasn't used to balancing without her right arm. Hopping from tree to tree, Yang was hoping to get to the spot where she saw the muzzle flash. As she swung from one branch to land on another, a blinding flash appeared from a source behind her and a wave of heat washed over the back of her neck. She did not turn around to investigate, she knew the marksmen was still shooting at her. Not slowing down, Yang leapt from one branch to another nearly immediately before the last branch would burst into flames.

As Yang was in mid-leap for another tree, her desired landing branch was splintered by a shot from Glas' rifle. Falling to the forest floor, she rolled to absorb the impact and continued sprinting towards the tree where she knew Glas was. She launched a blast towards his assumed position and was pleased when the branch exploded and the figure landed on the forest floor awkwardly.

Yang took advantage of his momentary weakness and charged a second time. Glas only had enough time to register the golden comet streaking towards him before he was crashing through the canopy of trees and flying over the forest. Yang watched his arc and jumped into the air, blowing explosive rounds behind her to control her trajectory and assist her with her leap. She followed the falling man and flew high into the air over the forest. She felt alive for the first time since Beacon, she was fighting, she was kicking ass again, she was doing what she had been born to do. And she loved it.

Glas looked towards the ground that was rapidly approaching him. He stabilized himself in midair, fired his rifle in the opposite direction he was traveling to slow his descent. _Knees bent, legs loose, weight forward._ He went through the mental checklist for a successful landing. As his feet touched the ground he rolled through a soft snowbank and used his momentum to pop up onto his feet, right next to a snowman. He was back by the cabin.

He looked towards the sky when he heard explosions and beheld Yang streaking towards him, a maniacal smile on her face. _What the hell did I unleash?_ He braced himself for the impact and swapped his rifle to the sword form.

Yang crashed into the front lawn of the cabin with explosive force. Blowing the snowmen apart and causing the storm to temporarily abate. Glas beheld a miniature sun on the front lawn that melted all the snow on their side of the cabin. Yang cackled and pumped her lone gauntlet. Glas did not show doubt but instead moved to a defensive combat stance, there was no way he would win if he charged Yang.

Yang lept towards Glas and the two exchanged blows. It was an even fight, for every move that Yang would use on Glas he was able to deflect it. For every tactic that Glas enacted in an attempt to gain the upper hand, Yang was able to stop his machinations by pure strength and tenacity. One in every few strokes would break their defenses and impact on the fighting warriors, but most were blocked or dodged.

Glas felt his arms losing strength and his strokes slowing down. He needed to do something desperate or he would be forced to stop soon. He charged with his shoulder into Yang's stomach, taking her off guard. Using his temporary advantage, he pressed his blade into Yang's throat and pulled on her single gauntlet of Ember Celica, Yang had to back off and lose her weapon or risk hurting herself on Glas' blade. She jumped backwards, letting her left arm slide out of the shotgauntlet. Glas triumphantly cast the metallic glove backwards and advanced towards the unarmed girl.

Yang surprised him by also charging. She raised her arm seemingly to strike his face. When Glas shifted his weight to defend above she rolled below his stance and quickly grabbed his wrist. Using her leverage over him, she pulled him over her back and twisted his arm, forcing him to drop his weapon as well. She kicked the sword away and acrobatically vaulted on top of the supine Glas to pin him. She kneeled on his legs, holding them down with her weight and held her left arm cocked back, threatening. "Give up?" She asked Glas triumphantly.

Glas grabbed the front of her sweater and with help from his legs threw her over his head. The two fighters sprang up and once more rushed towards each other. Glas leapt into the air, spinning with one leg extended, while Yang pushed all of her remaining strength into her left arm. Yang's powerful punch smashed into Glas' chin, and Glas' heavy boot connected with Yang's lower rib cage. Both felt their aura's give out and leave them. Yang saw the yellow webbed light fade across her body and she noticed the same thing happen on Glas' body with silver light. Glas fell to the ground on his face and Yang collapsed next to him.

Both stared at each other, panting and trying to get their strength back. Glas finally broke the silence, "You fight well, Yang."

"I know. If I still had two arms you wouldn't have lasted a minute." Yang stated between deep breaths. Glas knew that if he didn't take advantage of this moment she would slip back into her existentialistic funk. He stood and offered her a hand to help up. She looked at it for a few seconds and looked back at him suspiciously.

"I'm sorry for being such an ass, Yang," Glas apologized. "I knew that that would be the only way to see your old fire, and I wanted to behold it in person. I didn't mean what I said about your friends."

Yang mused over his apology before finally taking his hand. Glas took that as an acceptance and pulled her up. "It's too cold to stay out here. Let's go inside." Yang nodded in agreement, her hair and eyes had already returned to their natural color. The duo retrieved their weapons and plodded over the burnt ground and slush to the cabin's front door. Glas closed it behind them while Yang went to the kitchen.

"Weiss used to brew this tea that would help your aura come back faster. Wanna cup?" She asked Glas who happily accepted. "There's one catch," Yang continued while pulling down the kettle and an assortment of herbs from a cupboard.

"And what is that?"

"You have to answer my question. How did you leave the crater without leaving tracks? And you have to admit that I'm a better fighter, and you're an asshole."

Glas chuckled, "I'm an asshole who can't beat you . . . yet." He gave the blonde a cocky grin before becoming serious again, "but I am impressed with you. Most people don't notice small details like footprints, or lack thereof, in battle.

Yang smirked, she had enough reasons to pay more attention to tiny details while fighting people for the first time. The compliment was still welcome regardless.

"I used my semblance." Glas stated.

"What is it?"

"Teleportation."

That surprised Yang. If she had a teleportation semblance she would take advantage of it. She had only met one other person with a teleportation semblance, that pink-haired heterochromatic-eyed bitch who knocked her out; and she assumed her mother as well. She would never have to walk anywhere. The sheer recreational purposes for such a skill would be worth however much energy it required. "I'm surprised you actually told me instead of saying it was a secret." She bluntly replied to him.

"Well maybe I was being secretive to elicit your attention."

Yang paused for the most minute fraction of a second, but succeeded in portraying a confused visage. "Why would that make me interested?"

Glas had to fight back a smile, "Oh sometimes when people don't share details the other party will try to figure it out themselves, sometimes they'll even watch them from a bedroom window."

Yang had the self control to not blush and the decency not to deny it. "You were someone my father had never mentioned before and yet had been a friend of his for some time. On top of that you refused to tell me almost anything about yourself, which is more than enough to warrant suspicion."

"I agree," Glas conceded. "Would you still like to know my story?" He asked cautiously.

Yang looked up from the mixture of herbs she was beginning to boil. The last thing she had expected was for him to willingly tell her the infamous _story_. "I would appreciate that yes."

Glas sat down at the dining table and began tracing the grain of the wood with his finger. He didn't make eye contact with Yang, and she was sensitive enough to not force him to start.

He began with, "I don't know my own birthday." Yang thought that was a weird introduction. "I was dropped off at an orphanage when I was a newborn. The only thing that was with me was a note saying my name and my father's and that he was from Vacuo."

Yang was giving him her full attention now, she found herself studying his facial features, the short stubble that didn't match his silver hair. A singed patch just above his left ear (Yang admitted she probably did that today). A scar that traced his jawline. Laugh-lines next to his eyes despite his young age.

"I was never adopted, but the caretakers at the orphanage were really good to me. None of them lied to me and said that after I turned five I would still have a chance of adoption, most knew that I would rather hear the hard truth, that most kids who aren't adopted during infancy don't get adopted at all, than be told that I would still probably be adopted.

"They let me go to a school that wasn't in the orphanage and when I showed adeptness with building mechanical things they were the ones who helped me find the apprenticeship I told you about. That was when I was around nine years old." Glas turned his gaze back to his listener and locked her eyes, Yang quickly dropped her attention back to the whistling tea kettle.

"Here's where my story starts to sound like yours. I was always desperate to go and find my father. I don't know why, I just wanted to know why he didn't want to raise me. I was happy with my life in Vale, but I was curious about my origins. I became rather obsessed with it, really."

Yang poured the tea into two cups and brought one over to Glas before returning with her own. She could definitely relate to that aspect of Glas' life.

Glas smiled his thanks and sipped before continuing. "Anyway. Obviously a nine year old couldn't travel all the way to Vacuo by himself, so I started saving up to by an airship ticket, but my wage was barely able to pay for a lunch outside the orphanage. So when Qrow came into my shop that's why I asked him to teach me how to fight. So I could instead walk to Vacuo. Qrow trained me for seven years, He helped me design my weapon and your father helped me train in the last portion of that time.

"When I was seventeen, I became a legal adult and graduated from school. The owner of my shop had given me a graduation present of about five-hundred lien that he had held onto for me for the trip to Vacuo; he knew about all that. I thanked him and everyone else and set out to find my father.

"The trip wasn't so bad, I was able to hold my own with the majority of the grimm that attacked me. Some fights I had to flee but I made it to Vacuo in one piece and three-hundred lien still with me. I began to ask around for any men named Lir. I had begun to feel hopeful and had these glorified images of what he would be like in my head, was he a hunstman? Maybe he was a professor at some academy. I actually thought he would be an engineer for the Vacuo military and that my mechanical talents were hereditary at one point.

"When I tried looking for him, no one knew who he was. But one day I was eating in a dingier part of town, and this guy taps me on the shoulder. He asked me if I was the one who was looking for the Lir guy, I said yes and he said he knew where he was. I followed him, too excited to notice that the homes had started to get trashier and the people rougher.

Glas took another drink before progressing. "I followed him into this one home, and these four guys were playing some card game. The house was a disaster, it smelled like cheap beer and cigarettes. The guys looked at me and asked who I was. My guide said I was the one looking for Lir. When he said that, one of the guys stood up and walked over to me.

"He was short, fat, dressed in stained tank top and torn jeans. He smelled like tobacco and sweat and his two top canine teeth were fake. His hair was a dusty brown and graying on the sides but we shared the same eyes, and it had finally sunken in that this low-life degenerate was my father.

"He asked me why I was looking for him and I told him that I was his son. He laughed and asked if I wanted to throw the ball, to bond, he mocked me in front of his friends. Turns out he had lived in Vale for most of his life but moved to Vacuo the year before I was born. When I asked him who my mother was all he responded with was 'I don't know. I've never been married, she was probably some whore I picked up in Vale.' He was losing the card game and then asked me how much money I had on my person. I responded with none, that I only payed with credit cards but his friends held me down while he frisked my pockets. He found my money and took all of it. Then they kicked me out of their house and told me to leave."

Yang realized she had been holding her breath and hadn't taken a sip of her tea yet. She quickly guzzled it before it got cold and waited patiently for Glas to continue his story.

"My entire purpose in life had been to find him. I had trained for seven years, saved up for the trip for twelve, and traveled for another year before finally meeting him. And he robbed me.

"It crushed me. I had no more drive, no more motivation to do anything. I went back to Vale but became a bum. I lived in the old man's apartment above the shop, I still worked there from time to time but I didn't pay rent. I stopped talking to Qrow and your father and became a recluse.

"The old man was the one who got me out of it. He would tell me I was wasting away, that who I came from does not define who I am and it was my decisions that affected my life. That I was letting something that was entirely out of my control decide what I would be.

"So, I took his advice to heart. I didn't want anyone else to go through what I had to. I wanted to make this world a better place. Since It was too late to become a huntsman I decided to sell my services to them, If they needed anything I would help them. In a way, my old boss and Qrow were my fathers and mentors.

"So here I am. Helping you realize the same thing." Glas finished with a content smile on his face.

"What thing?" Yang was genuinely curious.

"Your purpose in life was taken from you. It was to protect your friends through mutual adventures but now they're gone and you're crippled. You don't think you're strong enough to live your adventurous life but there are other paths you can achieve that goal through Yang. You have other destinies to fulfill. And no more moping about losing your right arm, it's clear that you don't need it to still be a great fighter."

Yang was silent for a long time. She agreed that she needed to do something, to get moving again and pick herself up. "What do you think I should do?" Yang asked.

"Well." Glas sat back in his chair. "You could go after your mother, but she doesn't want to be found and it's usually better they stay unfound, take it from me. You could chase after Ruby and help her fight the people that brought this unto you. Or you could go find Blake in Vale."

Yang weighed the options in her mind. She didn't want to go after her mother just yet, tracking down Ruby seemed like the right thing to do, but she couldn't leave without trying to find Blake first. Then again, she didn't even know if Blake was still in Vale. Her feline friend could be anywhere by now. Yang sighed, "I have to check to see if Blake is still in Vale. I need to know why she left." _And if she's okay._

Glas smiled. "Let's do it, then."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on! You didn't think I would miss out on this adventure did you? I help out hunstmen. Consider this as me getting to know the newer generation." He laughed.

Yang couldn't help but smile. It was fantastic to have a plan again. "Okay, when do we leave?"

"Slow down there, Yang." Glas raised a hand. "Before you do anything you're going to have to get back in shape. And if you want I can build you a new hand, but it will take some time."

Yang's eyes widened. "You can do that for me?"

Glas nodded, "I could have it done in a few weeks if I work fast. Any requests for it? Functions, design, et cetera?"

Yang smiled, "Make it yellow. And thank you, Glas. I think its time I finally re _armed_ myself."

"Its good to meet the Yang I've heard about." Glas smiled.

Yang winked back at her new partner.


End file.
